Lufthansa is unlikely to offer more remedies to EU antitrust regulators scrutinising its bid for a stake in state-owned Italian carrier ITA despite their concerns about long-haul flights, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
German airline Lufthansa, which wants to buy 41% of Alitalia
successor ITA and has so far submitted three offers of concessions, declined to
comment.
The most recent proposal last month included an offer not to
integrate ITA into its joint venture with United Airlines and Air Canada for
two years, other sources had told Reuters.
There have been some tweaks to the proposal since then but
no major changes, the sources said.
Lufthansa has also offered to keep some competing ITA
short-haul routes to Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria and cede 40
slots at Milan Linate airport to easyJet and Volotea.
EU concerns had centred on the impact of the deal on both
short-haul and long-haul flights and ITA's dominance at Milan-Linate airport.
The European Commission, which acts as the EU competition
watchdog, is expected to decide whether to clear or block the deal by the end
of the month.